Urgent action needed to stamp out battery fire risks

Potentially dangerous batteries inside electric bikes, scooters, drones and other products should be registered and recycled, an expert has warned, and importers should be forced to participate in a national scheme. The Battery Stewardship Council issued the call on Tuesday with the release of its annual report that showed more Australian households were recycling batteries, although firms in some industries had failed to join the trend. But the Positive Charge report also found batteries' "risk profile" had changed over the past two years, with more lithium-ion batteries in the market and more fires from poor quality units and inappropriate disposal. The findings come after a study found batteries were causing up to 12,000 fires a year in the waste and recycling industry, and before state and federal environment ministers were due to meet to discuss the issue. The Battery Stewardship Council's annual report found technological breakthroughs had seen a rise in lithium-ion batteries, with more used to power devices like bicycles and scooters. But poor quality lithium-ion batteries in imported products were posing a greater fire threat to the public and recyclers, Battery Stewardship Council chief executive Libby Chaplin said. Regulatory changes to make participation in Australia's battery recycling scheme compulsory and for importers to disclosure battery quality, she said, could improve the market. "The biggest concern is online sales of low-quality batteries and that is something we would love to see the government address," she told AAP. "It's challenging to work with online vendors because (we run) a voluntary scheme and what we're proposing under a regulated framework is that marketplaces would be responsible for joining the scheme." Changes would allow the recycling scheme to safely dispose and reuse batteries from drones, e-bikes and e-scooters, Ms Chaplin said. "We can accommodate 75 per cent of those products – small electronics and electrical equipment with embedded batteries under three kilograms," she said. "They could be accommodated within the existing network if we had regulation from government requiring importers to join the scheme." Potential changes to battery recycling were discussed at a meeting of state and environment ministers in June, and are expected to be raised at a meeting in December. The NSW government has also issued stricter standards for lithium-ion batteries that are due to begin next February, and a report from the Australian Council of Recycling found the waste and resource-recovery industry was dealing with up to 12,000 battery-related fires each year. Despite potential changes, the Battery Stewardship Council's annual report found Australians were recycling more batteries, with 2.9 tonnes collected during B-Cycle's second year of operation, representing 15.3 per cent of all batteries sold in Australia. More than one in three households reported recycling batteries regularly (36 per cent), up from 25 per cent in 2021, and battery drop-off locations increased by 24 per cent to 5206 collection points. Most loose battery brands also participated in the recycling scheme (90 per cent), the report found, but only 60 per cent of power tool battery sellers had signed up, and just two per cent of the e-bike market had joined.